The present inventive subject matter relates generally to the telecommunication arts. Particular but not exclusive relevance is found in connection with conserving electrical power in telecommunications facilities, and accordingly the present specification makes specific reference thereto. It is to be appreciated however that aspects of the present inventive subject matter are also equally amenable to other like applications.
As is known in the art, telecommunication facilities (e.g., central offices (COs), mobile switching centers (MSCs), etc.) are commonly provisioned with telecommunication switches, media gateways (MGWs) and/or other electrically powered telecommunications equipment. Each switch, MGW or other like piece of equipment is commonly implemented as a collection of microprocessor containing hardware circuit boards or modules or cards which are each programmed and/or otherwise provisioned to perform one or more telecommunication functions. For example, some such cards (i.e., bearer cards) are programmed and/or provisioned to route and/or transport bearer traffic thereover, while other cards (i.e., control cards) may be programmed and/or provisioned to monitor and/or control one or more bearer cards.
As can be appreciated, each bearer card is capable of handling some maximum amount of traffic and each control card is capable of monitoring and controlling some maximum number of bearer cards. Accordingly, the maximum amount of traffic a given switch or MGW or other like piece of equipment can handle is directly related to the number of bearer and/or control cards which are installed and operational therein. Furthermore, the maximum amount of traffic a given facility can handle is directly related to the number of pieces and capacity of the equipment installed therein.
To maintain high reliability at all times, a telecommunications facility is commonly provisioned with a sufficient capacity to handle a maximum traffic load which corresponds to some projected or other determined peak usage of the facility. Accordingly, the number and/or capacity of the switches, MGWs and/or other like equipment installed in the facility has to be sufficient to support the desired maximum capacity of the facility and hence the number and/or capacity of the respective hardware cards must likewise be sufficient. However, as can be appreciated, a relatively greater number of hardware cards and/or pieces of equipment that are operational within a given facility generally translates into a relatively greater electrical power consumption for that facility.
Energy conservation is a growing concern for operators of telecommunications facilities. Reducing electrical power consumption in such facilities can reduce operating costs and can be environmentally friendly. However, there can be difficulties associated with reducing electrical power consumption in legacy telecommunications equipment already deployed or otherwise in service and the manufacture of new more energy efficient equipment.
For example, one way to conserve energy is to reduce the number of pieces and/or the capacity of the switching and/or other electrically powered equipment installed within a given facility. However, this would also tend to reduce the maximum capacity of the facility to handle traffic, and during periods of peak usage, the facility may potentially become overloaded. Alternately, some switching equipment otherwise installed at a given facility could be turned off at times (e.g., when traffic at the facility is lower) to reduce the overall electrical power consumption of that facility. However, prior art switching equipment, MGWs and the like typically can only be powered-off manually, that is for example, by a technician or other appropriate personnel manually throwing a switch or otherwise manually disconnecting power from the piece of equipment one wishes to power down. However, the technician may not know when traffic is low enough to safely power-off some of the equipment or how much of the equipment can be safely powered-off without jeopardizing the facility's reliability. Also, it can be inconvenient, costly and/or otherwise impractical to man a facility for this purpose.
Accordingly, a new and/or improved system and/or method for conserving electrical power within a telecommunications facility is disclosed which addresses the above-referenced problem(s) and/or others.